Slow Cooker Sunday

E.J. and I had a fairly eventful weekend, considering we originally didn’t have much planned.  Friday night, E.J. wasn’t feeling very well, so we called it an early evening and just stayed home, but that was really the only relaxation we got.

Saturday was the annual Houston Art Car Parade downtown, which is a fairly big deal when it comes to H-Town traditions.   Considering I remember attending 20 years ago when there were only a handful of cars, the parade has come a really long way and consists of nearly 2 hours of colorful entries sauntering down Smith street.  I consider the Art Car parade a must-do activity for any self-respecting Houstonian, along with the Rodeo, NASA/Space Center Houston, and the Texas Renaissance Festival.  So it was with great horror, that I discovered E.J. had never seen the parade before.  Queue a serious face-palm.

Anyway, this year’s parade was at 2pm, so we had plenty of time before then to run some errands, have a lovely Paleo-friendly lunch at Escalantes in the Woodlands, and then head downtown for some parade fun.  We ended the day having dinner with friends at one of our favorite fancy dinner spots, Peli Peli in Vintage Park.  If you ever get a chance, I highly recommend the South African inspired restaurant, and while there’s nothing on the menu that is anything short of delicious, you have to try their beef filet covered in Diane sauce.  Sigh… it’s a rustic mushroom cream sauce that definitely isn’t dairy free, but oh is it divine.

Then today we were planning on meeting some friends in the afternoon, so Sunday Cook Day needed some special help.  Enter my 3 trusty slow cookers!  Before we headed out, I managed to get a Shepherd’s Pie cooked and packed for lunches, and also these favorite Crock Pot dishes going:

• Mongolian Beef – this has become a new favorite.  I actually made it for the first time last week, but only made a single recipe, so it didn’t last long.  It’s back by popular demand this week and with more meat
• Sweet Chipotle Slow Cooker Chicken – This is my own invention, a super simple sweet & spicy chicken that is easy to do in the standard sized pot. I paired this with some sauteed yellow squash and zucchini with onion.
• Slow Cooked Bolognese Sauce – Instead of sweet potato noodles, I went with spaghetti squash to help reduce our carb intake this week after Saturday’s splurge.

But before the weekend ended, I went ahead and helped E.J. kick the craving he’s had lately for hot dogs.  We grilled up some Applegate Farms Uncured grass-fed beef hot dogs and used this cassava flour bun recipe to make some hot dog buns.  Like most Paleo buns, the texture is definitely different from standard bread, but they held up well to the dog and the toppings.

At least today is a short week.  Next weekend is the big Easter meal, so I’m starting to put together my recipe list.  Next week I’ll report on the springtime spread!